“Rizal’s Unfinished 3rd Novel”

- Known as “Makamisa” In English, “Áfter Mass”

- The national library mistook the Spanish version to be the manuscript of Rizal’s first
novel Noli Me Tangere
- It was thought to be the draft of Noli Me Tangere
- It was acquired from the heirs of Mariano Ponce before the Second World War
- The manuscript was unsigned, untitled and undated but Rizal’s family confirmed it
through his penmanship
- This novel was made after El Filibusterismo
- The novel has only one chapter. It only has 10 pages and is handwritten in the old
orthographic ancillary glyphs. Although it’s written in two languages, the settings and
characterization mirror those of Rizal’s other novels in Spanish.
- Rizal wrote the draft while on the ship Melbourne en-route to Hong Kong from
Marseilles in October 1891 or in Hong Kong early 1892
- He was stung by Marcelo H. Del Pilar’s honest opinion of El Filibusterismo, because
of the criticism, he made the third novel
Makamisa: The Quest

- Dr. Angel Hidalgo- grandson of Saturnina Rizal. Informed the JRNCC about an
unpublished manuscript in Spanish resembling the Tagalog Makamisa in plot and
characters, and existing in the National Library. He was silenced by his uncle Leoncio
Lopez Rizal by declaring that the manuscript in question is a draft of Noli Me
Tangere.
- Juan Collas, gave Rizal’s third unfinished novel the title “Tagalog Nobility” in 1957.
- Ambeth Ocampo, Recovered the 245-pages manuscripts containing the Makamisa in
1987. He was given access to the confidential inventory of manuscripts in the
National Library.

Reasons why Makamisa is Rizal’s third novel:

 In letters to Blumentritt, Rizal said he began his third novel on the ship en route from
Marseilles to Hong Kong circa 1891.
 Rizal’s third novel, as he stated, was not in Spanish but in Tagalog
 Its storyline touches on the customs of the Tagalogs.
 It is satirical and humorous.
 Rizal changed his mind and shifted from Tagalog to Spanish, thus resulting with two
manuscripts with the same story and plot.
 Of all his unfinished works, only Makamisa and Dalawang Magkakapatid were written in
Tagalog. The latter does not fit the description above.
Rizal’s Letters to Blumentritt

Reply to Blumentritt’s kind opinion on the El Filibusterismo

“ …I am thinking of writing a third novel, a novel in the modern sense of the word. But this time
politics will not occupy much space in it. Ethics will play the principal role. It will deal only with
the mores and customs of the Filipinos; there will be only two Spaniards –the curate and the
Teniente de la Guardia Civil. I want to be witty, satirical and candid; I want to cudgel and laugh,
laugh amid tears, that is to say, to cry bitterly.”

Letter to Blumentritt from Hong Kong on 31 January 1892

“While I rest from my professional work, I write the third part of my book [after the Noli me
tangere and the El Filibusterismo in Tagalog. It deals only with Tagalog customs, exclusively of
the usages, virtues and defects of the Tagalogs. I am sorry I cannot write it in Spanish, for I have
found a very beautiful theme. I want to write a novel in the modern sense of term – an artistic
and literary novel. This time I want to sacrifice politics and everything for art. If I write it in
Spanish, then the poor Tagalogs to whom the work is dedicated will not get to know it, do with
it? Perhaps they will only laugh and mock our defects. The book gives me much difficulty, for
many of my ideas cannot be expressed freely without my introducing many neologisms, and
moreover I lack practice in writing Tagalog…”

Letter to Blumentritt indicating the sudden shift from Tagalog to Spanish on 20 April 1892

“The translation of the Noli continuous, but I have already given up the idea of writing the third
part in Tagalog, for it would not be appropriate to write a work in two languages as they would
be like the sermons of the friars. So I am writing it now in Spanish.”

- What moved Rizal in making this supposed to be his third novel? First, he wants to
write a novel in Tagalog addressing Tagalog readers rather than Europeans.
- Of his third novel, he wrote: “If I write it in Spanish, then the poor Tagalogs to whom the
work is dedicated, will not get to know it, though they may be the ones who need it most.”
- He had a hard time in writing down his thoughts in Tagalog so he changed it. Rizal also
is the type who thought more easily in the Spanish language rather than in Tagalog.
- Second motive: I want to sacrifice politics and everything for art.”
- Third motive: was to write a novel that would deal “exclusively with the usages, virtues,
and defects of the Tagalogs.” Instead of politics, ethics is the principal role of his novel